1925
James
2016
James W. Butters
November 9, 1925 — April 25, 2016
Mr. Butters retired from Federal service in January of 1986 after 32 years of government service, including 22 years at NBS. Jim transferred to NBS from Walter Reed Army Medical Center in July 1963. He worked as an administrative officer for the Heat Division, for the Center for Analytical Chemistry, and for the Center for Building Technology. While with the CAC, he was seconded for some 15 months to the Budget Division during the period when NBS was one of the first agencies to use the personal computer for management tasks. There he worked in the Budget systems group which developed and tested the MIRADS system; the first computerized management information system used at NBS.
Jim was born in Minneapolis in 1925 and grew up there. From high school he went into the Navy in 1944; serving with the amphibious forces as a radar operator in the western Pacific. Off Okinawa in 1945 he witnessed the use of the VT Proximity fuze developed at NBS in the war against Japan. At war's end he was with forces training for the "Operation Olympic" invasion of Kyushu; landed with the occupation forces at Sasebo in Sept. 1945; and survived the typhoon of Oct. 1945 which damaged many units of the U.S. Navy.
After the war, Jim attended the University of Minnesota on the G.I. Bill and worked at the University Hospitals in Minneapolis. In 1954 he moved to Maryland to marry his college sweetheart, and to take a job with the Dept. of the Army in Washington. Later he worked for the Corps of Engineers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
After 29 years living in Rockville, Jim moved his family to a smaller home in Wormans Mill near the Monocacy River in Frederick. This allowed the whole family to be closer to the historical Americana which they enjoyed so much. In retirement, James had time for many hobbies: military history, and hiking around battlefields; enjoying classical music (He helped out as a volunteer for the Baltimore Symphony concerts in Frederick;) and working with his two computers to solve the mysteries of the internet and the new frontiers of Macintosh software.
Mr. Butters is the father of Douglas K. Butters and wife Marilyn of Frederick (formerly of Potomac) and the grandfather of Sara Wajda and husband Scott of Raleigh, NC.
A memorial service will be held at the Keeney & Basford Funeral Home, 106 E. Church St., Frederick in the Etchison Memorial Chapel of the funeral home at 11 AM. The interment will follow at Parklawn Memorial Park, Rockville. Contributions may be made in Mr. Butters' name to The Children's Inn at NIH, 7 West Drive, Bethesda, MD 20814.
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of James W. Butters, please visit our flower store.
Guestbook
Visits: 0
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the
Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Service map data © OpenStreetMap contributors